


Of Will and Defiance

by ertrunkener_Wassergeist



Series: Crystal Verse [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bahamut (Final Fantasy XV) Being a Jerk, Canonical Character Death, Gen, This Tag Refers To Regis, Tumblr Prompt, What The Hell Do I Tag This As?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:13:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25950403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ertrunkener_Wassergeist/pseuds/ertrunkener_Wassergeist
Summary: What is the crystal? Humanity has long forgotten. Or maybe they never knew. What they did know about it, was that it was light. Light and protection, commanded by those who served Bahamut.What no one knew: The crystal may not have an awareness like a human thought of it, but there certainly was a will.Or: When the crystal gains the opportunity, it desides to throw Bahamut's plan out the window.
Series: Crystal Verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883437
Comments: 6
Kudos: 48





	Of Will and Defiance

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> This was birthed first as a tumblr prompt made by the amazing Ignis Felicis! I finally found a bit of time to edit this and post it :)  
> I desided to make this a series of one shots of which this is the first. This one in particular is a bit unusual. It starts with 3rd person omniscient and then slips into 3rd person limited with focus on the crystal itself.  
> Did I just write a whole ass one shot from the POV of an inanimate object? Yes I did. Why're you asking?  
> Also, if anyone has any idea what exactly to tag this as, please tell me? Because I've got no idea XD
> 
> I hope you have fun reading this, even if it's a bit unusual :D

What is the crystal? Humanity has long forgotten. Or maybe they never knew. What they did know about it, was that it was light. Light and protection, commanded by those who served Bahamut.

The Cosmogony taught it was a gift from the Draconian to humanity. A sign of his trust and a long standing promise. The King of the Astrals gifted it not only to humanity – though they would certainly profit from it as well – but to the Lucis Caelum line specifically. Only they were judged worthy, and it became their duty to guard it until the day the promise Bahamut made, would come to fruition.

Was this true? What had been written down thousands of years ago, dictated by a voice that made the hand holding the quill tremble.

Whatever the case may be, it was a fact universally considered as truth the crystal was so closely linked to the Lucis Caelum line that the theory existed, the line of Kings was born of the crystal itself.

No one could verify the truth of it. Not even the Lucis Caelums themselves.

Somnus Lucis Caelum may have been the first human master of the crystal, but it had been there long before that. It had been supposed to go to his brother. His brother who had had abilities that had been so close to what the crystal could do…

Over time, bit by bit, generation by generation, the royal line and the crystal were chained closer together. Each life sacrificed to it, a link in the chain Bahamut wreathed to make both bow to his bidding.

The crystal may have been the most powerful entity on Eos, and older than all things in this realm, but it was also impartial. It did not act in one or the other’s favour, but in the interest of Eos as a whole.

That is where the Lucis Caelum line came in. The human factor. A noble line with talents of its own. And, most importantly to Bahamut, those talents were compatible with the crystal’s power. There was also the drive, the determination and sheer will to do something with that power. To protect those under their protection.

What no one knew: When the Astrals in their War, tore deep into the earth, they unearthed something that should have never seen the light of day. Something born of the chaos that existed before even Eos, there because light needs darkness to shine bright. But then the balance started tilting, and when Bahamut tore the crystal from its place for a bid of more power, it was skewed beyond immediate repair.

From then on shadows roamed the night, monstrous and hungry. A sickness that slowly crept into the light.

The crystal wanted – for all that an inanimate crystal could _want_ – to protect the balance. The Lucis Caelums the people. These facts made it all the easier for Bahamut to twist both until they fit together. Held close by lives lost, blood and biting chains of magic.

Another thing no one knew: The crystal had never been aware. Not in a way the Astrals or humanity would call aware, at least. But with every soul that came to join it because Bahamut willed it so, there came to be… something. It would have been too much to call it a spark, as humans were often wont to describe intuition, thought and the soul. But there is a current there, one that changed it’s flow, not because Bahamut had made it, but because the crystal wanted that change. The Draconian never noticed.

It was that current that first touched the young human souls that Bahamut forced upon it, now. And for the first time it realized - acknowledged - just how diverse human souls really were. Even when they came from one family line with one purpose.

The crystal could not have favourites. It was impartial to all things. But there were souls whose flow was easier to match, souls who change part of their own flow to match that of the crystal's better. If this happened as a conscious choice or not didn't matter, the only thing of relevance was that they did this and it eased the pressure of clashing _energy-current-spark_. The soul known as Regis was the thirteenth of those.

The soul known as Noctis was… different. It flowed like the first human soul it ever touched. But it also was just as twisted as the crystal was now, by the chains and will of Bahamut. In a grotesque way that made them an even better fit. Those things made them have a resonance. The crystal and the soul known as Noctis. It made Bahamut declare this soul “chosen”.

The crystal could feel the soul known as Regis, weep. A powerful mix of _grief-anger-despair-sadness_ pressed against its currents in a way that... _chafed_.

… It did not like that.

Another current in the flow of the crystal changed because it willed it so. Slowly, subtly.

Bahamut did not notice.

Something happened, then. The first soul the crystal ever touched, drew near. Still alive and hurt and twisted by Bahamut and chaos. The crystal did not know pain, but there is something that wished to resonate, wished to heal, but it could not.

The soul it first touched, went away again and came back. More souls in its wake. One carried within it a tiny current of the crystal’s light the Draconian had ripped from it. It was slowly eating the soul from inside out. There was a second one, eclipsed by the first, but there. The crystal yearned to have those pieces back, but they had been taken so long ago and so much had changed about itself and them, that it knew they would not fit anymore. Where they had once been, now resided the human souls Bahamut had bound to it.

Then there was sunlight.

Blessed sunlight after so long of suspension in a chamber that allowed none of it. The crystal absorbed as much of the sunlight's strength as it could. Something had changed. It felt the balance start to tilt even more.

The soul known as Regis joined the crystal’s light, full of grief and resignation.

And then night.

Chaos came. The sickness that poisoned night and day.

Suddenly, a new soul was there. It did not have the currents the crystal had learned to be Lucis Caelum. It was so different.

The new soul touched the current the crystal had changed of its own will. The first current, that softened the blow of its power for the human soul. The most gentle part of itself. ~~The crystal was never supposed to be gentle.~~ Without hesitation the new soul grabbed that current and held it tight.

Its power, softened for the soul of a Lucis Caelum, burned it. But still this new soul held on. There was a need to protect there, a will to do what needed to be done. It eclipsed that of most of the souls the crystal had ever touched and held within its light.

The crystal could feel Bahamut’s chains and will try to rip the new soul apart. It could feel the human souls within it dig their own hooks into the new soul, because they had no other choice.

The new soul held on, full of stubbornness and determination and protectiveness.

It is a decision made within the span of a second and an eternity at the same time. ~~I was never supposed to make a decision.~~ The second current it changed of its own will - the only other until then - joined the first. The crystal used the new soul as a bridge. It was the closest it could use. The soul known as Regis had joined it, and the soul known as Noctis was too far away.

Their connection was strong enough that the crystal could feel the souls connected to the one known as Noctis. It would have been perfect, but it needed a soul within immediate reach, so it had to settle for the closest approximation and... _hope_.

Chaos was everywhere. Sickness and poison. It needed to go. The crystal needed to cleanse, needed to protect.

The new soul nearly buckled under the strain of its will and power.

But somehow it held on.

The crystal did the only thing it could do for this new soul. It took the new soul within itself, before there was nothing but ash left of it. It protected its physical form the only way it knew how to.

It turned it into crystal.

Bahamut raged. Tried to claw the new soul away, tried to chain the crystal even tighter. But the crystal did what it had been made to do. It protected. And if it had now to protect itself also, well…

Another currents changed. A chain loosened.

.

.

.

Somewhere within a beautiful garden a statue stood. It was made from crystal the colour of the sky. It depicted a man, defiant and proud, unwilling to bend before even the Astrals and the powers of the world.

Another man was often there to visit. His gaze fractured, but his soul was stubborn and bright. There was still something to protect for this man. Sometimes he talked to the crystal statue.

And maybe the crystal statue that was once a man, listened.

The man that still lived despite it all, left after a while, his heart a bit lighter, his gaze a bit less fractured. He had duties to his King he needed to fulfil.


End file.
